2015 Edition

Fulbright ETA Monthly HighlightsAMINEF proudly presents the Fulbright English Teaching Assistant (ETA) monthly highlights.

Each month we showcase the various activities ETAs have been involved in throughout the past month, both in and outside the classroom.

AMINEF oversees 34 ETAs who are placed in high schools across Indonesia.

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December 1st - December 21st

Yogyakarta 2 December 2015Yogyakarta Teachers Compete

All guru-guru in Yogyakarta from public schools, SMAN and SMKN alike, were invited to participate in an olah-raga event at a public field. Teachers formed teams within their schools and competed in volleyball, badminton, chess, and a traditional Indo-nesian game known as Galah Asin or Gobak Sodor.ETA Kendra Reiser had not yet seen many of her fel-low teachers outside of the school setting so it was incredible to get to know them on a more personal basis while bonding over the competition. She was lucky enough to participate in the women’s volley-ball event and also cheered and danced passion-ately for all other events she was not competing in.

Medan, North Sumatera 3 December 2015English Language Classes Drama Performance

At SMA CT Foundation (CTF) in Medan various tenth grade English language classes were given the op-portunity to develop their English skills by perform-ing their theater adaptations of Jack and the Bean-stalk and Timun Mas. ETA Christopher Linnan and his co-teacher Mr. Guntar were on-hand to help prepare and assess the students’ performances. This gave the students an opportunity to improve their English speaking skills and develop their self-con-fidence, as well as an opportunity to demonstrate their creativity via their various costumes an unique, yet engaging performances.

ETA Mackenzie Findlay participated in Palangka Raya’s Annual Christ-mas Parade along with a hundred of her students. Mackenzie and her stu-dents joined thousands of other students and orga-nizations in the parade. She led rousing renditions of Jingle Bells all through the hour-long parade

and high-fived hundreds of excited young children who had lined the streets to watch the parade.

Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan 1 December 2015Annual Christmas Parade

Martapura, South Sumatera 5 December 2015Circumcision Party

ETA Patrick Dougherty attended a circumcision party in Martapura, Sumatra where he learned that that the practice of sunat in Islam is a bit different than the circumcision that many Ameri-can newborn boys receive. The boy is many years older (the boy in the photograph is 10) and a celebra-tion is held. In this case, it was quite the celebration indeed as a few hundred people were in attendance.

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December 1st - December 21st

Fulbright ETA Monthly Highlights 2

Magelang, Central Java 5 December 2015Hike to Gunung Andong

Magelang ETAs Safiyah Ismail and Savannah Trifiro went on a hike to Gunung An-dong with two of their friends from Magelang. They met fellow back-packers from vari-ous cities in Indone-sia at the summit.

ETA Patrick Dougherty with the family of one of his friends in Martapura. Her family lives in a village in which all the members practice the same trade: making roof tiles (genting). After watching them make a few tiles, he tried it out himself. While it turned out like the others, he took twice the time! In a day, they can make about 1000 tiles using this hand-operated machine.

Martapura, South Sumatera 6 December 2015Patrick Learns a New Trade

Bandar Lampung, Lampung 6 December 2015SMAN 7 Tour Guide Competition

ETA Ramon Caleon hosts English Club three times per week at SMAN 7 Bandar Lampung and for the end of the semester, the club held a school-wide tour guide competition. With the help of the school’s English teachers, the club organized three rounds of selec-tion. The first is an in-school competition, where par-ticipants presented their choice of three tourist sites within the Lampung province. The second was a held at the Museum Lampung in Bandar Lampung, while the last round was held in the gorgeous Pahawang Island in the neighboring Pesawaran Regency. From over 60 participants, it came down to 15 lucky con-testants that guided the English teachers, ETA Ramon Caleon, and guest tourist ETA Rebecca Selin (SMK 2) around several islands off the coast of Sumatra.

Education is a slow moving

butpowerful force

- J. William Fulbright

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December 1st - December 21st

Fulbright ETA Monthly Highlights 3

Pangkal Pinang, Bangka Island 9 December 2015Beach Day with Teachers from SMKN 2 Pangkal Pinang

ETA Caitlin Jordan was invited to take part in a beach outing with some of the teachers, their fam-ilies and a few students from the ‘Electro’ Depart-ment at SMKN 2 Pangkal Pinang. On their way to the beach they passed by the Kantor Gubernur of Bangka-Belitung and had to stop and snap a photo.Ironically, it was a holiday because of local elections taking place across the island so the stop seemed extra fitting!

The beach in the southern part of Bangka Island was one of the prettiest, and rockiest, seen by Caitlin so far on her tours of Bangka. It was the backdrop of a short ‘memory’ film that Caitlin’s teachers and stu-dents will edit in order for both Caitlin and SMKN 2 Pangkal Pinang to remember her time in Indonesia! Here she is ‘selfie-style’ with two teachers, one of the teacher’s children, and a student of SMKN 2 after their walk up a massive stone cliff overlooking the beach.

Of course going to the beach always means sharing a meal. Caitlin snapped this at lunch-time just after coming back from swimming in the ocean with some of the teacher’s children. The amount and selection of food was amazing.

Caitlin continues to wonder not only when there is time to cook, but also how much of the food manages to fit into the cars, which are already full of people and bags. Being able to take part in activities with her school community outside of the school is important to Caitlin and she feels very privileged to have such a wonderful group of teachers that offer to share their time with her.

Magelang, Central Java 10 December 2015Batik Class

Here ETA Savannah Trifiro’s co-teacher and Savannah making progress in their students’ batik class that they joined. After sketching the design out with pencil on the white fabric, they apply hot wax with canting tools. The ideal goal is to nicely trace their pencil with the wax, however, that is much easier said than done!

Yogyakarta 16 December 2015Wayang Kulit at SMAN 1 Yogyakarta

To celebrate the 58th anniversary of SMA Negeri 1 Yogyakarta, ETA Julia Xia played gamelan with fellow teachers as a student performed wayang kulit, a Ja-vanese shadow puppet show that tells tales of classic Hindhu epics. Wayang typically stretches throughout an entire night until morning, and the enchanting tones of a gamelan orchestra, the theatrical voices of the many storyline characters, and the resounding laugh-ter of an audience entertained for hours by a single puppet master was an unparalleled cultural experience.

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- J. William Fulbright

“We must learn to explore all the op-

tions and possibilities that confront us in a complex and rapidly

changing world.”

December 1st - December 21st

Fulbright ETA Monthly Highlights

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Pangkal Pinang, Bangka Island 17 December 2015Interview with Students from Poltekkes Kemenkes Pangkal Pinang

ETA Caitlin Jordan took part in an interview with students from Poltekkes Kemenkes Pangkal Pinang, which was set up by the administrators at SMKN2 Pangkal Pinang. Poltekkes Kemekes is a technical pharmacy university with a branch in Pangkal Pinang. These wonderful students had to interview a foreigner as a homework assignment for their English class and Caitlin was honored and happy to offer her services

Here is Caitlin mid-interview, thinking of responses to their questions. Some of them were easy, ‘What have you done in Bangka since you ar-rived?’ while others were more difficult, ‘What do you think of the school system in Indonesia?’ but Caitlin tried to answer each one as best she could. It was a pleasure to meet the university students and have them practice their English both during and after the interview. She hopes that they will visit her again so that she can get to know them better than just the brief interview session allowed.

Medan, North Sumatera 18 December 2015SMK Negeri Binaan Christmas Celebration

Christian students and teachers at SMK Negeri Binaan in Medan held the third annual school-wide Christmas celebration. The celebration included skits on love and acceptance, scripture readings, hymns--and a stirring but off-key rendition of “Go Tell It on the Mountain” by ETA Izaak Earnhardt.

Bandar Lampung, Lampung 19 December 2015Talo Balak

ETA Rebecca Selin joined the traditional Lampung Talo Balak ensemble for a private event at a Bandar Lampung hotel. She has been studying Lampung music at Universitas Lampung throughout the grant, but this December event was her first performance.

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December 1st - December 21st

Fulbright ETA Monthly Highlights

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The music ensemble accompanied dancers in the Siger Pengunten dance, a famous Lampungese dance. In the picture, Rebecca joins members of UKMBS (Unit Kegiatan Mahasiswa Bidang Seni) Universitas Lampung in wearing Lampung tapis.

Wonosari, Special Region of Yogyakarta 21December 2015Celebrate Birthday with Orphans

ETA Bryan Howard, celebrated his 23rd birthday with everyone who lives at Panti Sosial Asuhan Anak Budhi Bhakti, the orphanage in Wonosari. They shared lunch and birthday cake, and Bryan got to know all of the kids—ages 6 to 17—and hear about their dreams for the future, in Indonesian and English!

ETA Mackenzie Findlay participated in a two-day filming event of her school by the local television station. All of the extracurricular activities were high-lighted by the film crew, including Mackenzie’s English Club. She prepared her students by teaching them a few games and when the film crew came, they played the games and showed off how fun English Club can be! Afterwards, Mackenzie was interviewed by the tv anchor about her role at SMAN 5, her program, and her impressions of the school. The second day, Mackenzie was asked by her students to participate in a traditional dance - which was also filmed by the tv station. Everyone (but especially the film crew with their cameras!) loved watching her attempt to do the Manasai dance (a traditional Dayak dance)! She is excited to see the final version on tv soon!

Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan Filming Event at SMAN 5

Mackenzie and students from her school dancing for the TV station!

If you want to read previous issue of the Fulbright ETA Highlights, please visit:

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